The Red Mage
by InternetJunkie
Summary: Her dreams are reality, her death is imminent and for some reason, an odd boy in a straw hat feels the need to kidnap her moments after the execution platform she was set to die upon is struck by lightning. Finally, an adventure worth living for.
1. The Bed of Her Executioner

Probably should be rated M for MATURE, though technically no sex scenes or tons of gore, but rather for adult situations, cursing, etc. also as this chapter makes it plain to tell, i got the idea while listening to Mad World by Gary Jules so have fun and comment to tell me what you think.

*a*s*c*e

She grasped at the strong metal protruding from her chest, her own blood coated the cold steel and it dripped from the tip of the blade. Behind her she heard an unfamiliar laugh, though the face that came to mind when she heard it was a familiar one. The laughter of Roronoa Zoro, the young swordsman who had been best friends with her sister as a child. Why he'd choose to pop up in a dream, the young woman had no idea but she had no qualms. She was at peace in this dream as she had been in every other when she lay dying in them. These were her best dreams, for in them she was finally painless.

"Wake up, Witch. It's your final hour." The familiar husky voice of Captain Smoker fell upon her, jolting her easily from her sleep while her hand slapped onto her bloodied chest with a wet smack. Moments ago, a sword had pierced it and the girls body showed the signs of it. Blood, her blood, puddled onto her chest and as she sat up it could be felt running down her abdomen.

This was no surprise to the white haired man, after holding the girl captive for nearly a month he had grown accustomed to her lifelike dreams bleeding in to her reality. But after today, neither her nor her dreams would be an issue. She was due for death.

Chise, the Red Mage had racked up quite the bounty in the last two years. A meagre five thousand berries as her first bounty after having attacked a marine vessel, only so low a bounty due to the fact that she had done it purposefully while no marines were on the ship and therefore was thought of as less of a threat and more of a rebel. But, here she was two years later with the second highest bounty in the East Blue, preceded only by the rookie who's thirty thousand berry bounty had just been issued.

After today, it would be Krieg with the second highest bounty and Chise would no longer be the White Hunter's concern.

"What a fun day we have planned out for you, Chi-se," Private Grey drawled, smirking as he pressed his face against the iron bars that kept the mage caged. The young mans eyes flashed, their natural brown color glinting black in the dim lighting.

"Actually, I planned it. This is practically a picnic as far as I'm concerned." With a snap of the womans fingers, the offending marine's black hair caught fire and left him screaming as he fought to extinguish it. "Please remember that I'm not wearing sea prism, so I can escape or cast a spell whenever I damn well please, Private."

Sighing, Smoker snuffed out the fire on the man's head before exhaling a large cloud of cigar smoke. "Don't antagonize the inmates, Grey. Go find Tashigi, I'll get the Mage her last meal."

Once the young marine had left, Chise calmly let herself out of her cage before leading the way up a stone staircase. Under normal circumstances, she'd worry that the White Hunter wasn't following behind her but on this day she was positive he was. It was their last day, after all.

The Red Mage let herself into his quarters, the scent of stale tobacco lingered in the air and rested upon each piece of furniture in his room. Her eyes trailed over the book case that leaned against the wall, near the door; each book had been placed perfectly, not nearly as haphazardly as her own books had been thrown into their shelves in her childhood home.

"One last hour..." Chise trailed her fingertips across the back of a couch as she walked behind it, unable to comprehend fully that her time was truly up, it would come to an end at long last and her pain would be gone.

Smoker's hand wrapped around her upper arm, pulling so that she'd have no choice but to turn and face the man who stood steadfastly behind her or risk dislocating her shoulder.

"Let's make it count."

*a*s*c*e

Thick calloused fingers gripped her thighs as Chise collapsed atop the Marine captain, her breathing came in stuttering gasps, her body slick with sweat and her mind plunging off the cliff-face that Smoker had thrown her from as she rode above him.

Thin lips trailed across his collar bones as the mage worked to calm her body, somehow, the woman noted, he even manage to taste of smoke and salt. Chise's mouth made its way to Smoker's own, for once not housing two cigars, and the kiss, the one she swore to herself would be her last taste of him was anything but chaste.

She didn't love him, it was too dangerous to fall in love with the man who would also be her executioner but she could see the adoration burning in his eyes and fought with herself not to call the man out on his stupidity.

Don't fall in love with the woman you're going to kill, Smoker. She wanted to chastise him but knew it would be hypocritical of her to do so. If she had another week with the man, she knew she'd feel the same as he did about her in this moment. It didn't matter, she didn't have a week, she didn't even have an hour. Five minutes, maximum, was all she had with the marine before he'd have to shackle her and lead her to the execution platform. Twenty seconds at the least, if the stomping coming from the hall kept heading towards the bedroom.

With the captains devil fruit ability, the room was immediately filled with smoke that even she, with her trained eyes, could not see through and the red haired woman was tossed off from the top of him and onto the other side of the bed as Smoker jumped up and quickly donned his military trousers before stumbling over to the couch and plopping down.

Chise vaguely remembered his rock pile, he often attempted stacking them atop each other after sex in order to calm himself and with a click of her fingers, the rocks stacked until only the one he had managed to pick up remained un-towered.

The thundering steps reached the door before it was thrust open and the marine equivalent of a rushed and harried mailman burst through the newly made opening.

"Captain Smoker! Terrible news! A message from Headquarters! They've received word that a Monkey D. Luffy and his pirate crew are headed here, to Loguetown!" Chise grimaced, knowing that she'd have to leave the smoke filled bedroom and that the hour before would be her last hour alone with the muscular, handsome Captain. With a measley flick of her wrist and a nearly silent incantation, the Red Mage was back in her cage with nothing to show for her time away besides the finger-shaped bruises across her thighs.

Two minutes passed before the telltale stomps of Smoker's boots began to head downstairs towards the cells. In his hands, he held a pair of cuffs that were undoubtedly meant for the woman who leaned casually along the stone walls of her cell.

Bottlegreen eyes watched carelessly as he tossed the chains to the younger man following behind him though the boy didn't quite manage to catch the iron shackles and they clanged loudly as they slapped into the floor.

"Get your shit together, Mikael. That was a simple catch. No wonder you had to join the Marines, you're probably shit at sports." In an instant the cuffs were around her wrists due to her own magic and with a startled raise of his eyebrows, Smoker unlocked the cell door. The cuffs weren't made of sea prism, proving to Chise that they were merely for show and that Smoker had no second thoughts about her making a run for it.

She was here of her own volition, and he knew that she wouldn't get scared and run away. She'd dreamed every night for the last two years of dying, of finally being painless. The fire rushing through her veins caused by the magic she'd inherited from a cursed fruit finally being put to rest and calm, lasting, painless peace. The dreams in which she lay dying were the best she'd ever had.

"Don't let your pace falter," Smoker demanded, and though he had turned to face Private Yamamoto Mikael, the young woman who walked calmly out of the cage that had housed her for the last month knew that it was directed at her. Standing straighter, she let her lithe legs lead her out of the marine base and walked beside the Captain like the dutiful prisoner she pretended to be.

The mans kairoseki jitte laid against his white marine coat starkly, the word JUSTICE printed across the back stood out to anyone who dared to look at him. He walked with pride in each step and with confidence that if anything happened, he could take care of it.

"Pirates were spotted at the port in town, please go there at once!" A young private, no older than eighteen stood before us, hand lifted in salute and the same terror that bled through his words shone through in his face as well, for all to see.

"I don't want to delay my execution, Smoker." Raised brows seemed to threaten her after she'd finished her sentence, causing a huff to leave her lips before Chise began walking once more.

"Where is Tashigi?"

Chise perked up, wondering about the girl she'd yet to be able to meet. Tashigi wasn't allowed in the jails after an assault from what she'd understood though occasionally, at night, she'd hear a feminine voice followed by the husky tone of the White Hunter.

"She said she'd be gone today but would return in time for training.."

"Dumb girl," he received a small nudge in admonishment from the mage but continued on, "Where in the hell did she go?"

The elder of the two privates, Mikael, began to reply before he was abruptly cut off by the happy squeals of a young child, her eyes closed as she ran towards the executioner's group exclaiming about her triple scoop ice cream. Her father could be heard, vaguely, calling out for the toddler, mentioning that she'd drop her ice cream if she didn't watch where she was going.

Chise saw it from a mile away, the girl not paying attention and running in to the most powerful man on the small island of Loguetown, and cream getting splattered onto his black cargo pants. It came as no surprise when exactly what she assumed would happen, did.

The child looked far different from Chise's younger sister but an instantaneous comparison happened in her mind as the young girl gasped in astonishment as she lost her ice cream.

"Captain Smoker! I am so so sorry for my daughter please, I humbly do apologize on her-"

"My ice cream..." The child's eyes filled with tears, tears that the mage's younger sister never would have shed if such a simple thing as ice cream had been lost. The father kept apologizing, and the witch stared at the scene with cold interest, wondering idly if she'd have to step in to stop the elder man from punishing the child or not.

"I'm sorry.. my pants ate your ice cream. Go get five scoops to make up for it." A gold coin was tucked into tiny hands, and a small yet brilliant smile lit up the toddler's face.

"Thanks, mister!"

With a wave of his hand, Captain Smoker directed his small entourage to keep moving while along the way, the ice cream which had once splattered his pants had magically disappeared. When they made it to the port, the pirate had already begun stealing everything he could get his hands on and stocking it up into his small brigantine ship.

The pirate was captured along with his entire crew but it didn't take a genius to recognize that whoever the captured man was, he was no rookie worth thirty million berries.

"So if this isn't Monkey D. Luffy, then where is he?"


	2. Catapult Luffy, Saved

_**MorteSangriz: Smoker's always been super underappreciated in my opinion, so I really wanted to include him a bit more than the average fanfic does. Thank you so much for your kind words!**_

 _ **VoyagesUnite: I'm glad you like it and hope i can live up to everyone's expectations! thank you!**_

"Eh, how did I get here? How did I wind up at the port, again?"

Four sets of eyes darted towards the young boy perhaps thirty feet away as he kept looking side to side, obviously lost. Chise smiled though worked hard to conceal it all the while wondering how many times he had 'wound up at the port', his spoken words made her think it was more than twice.

"Hey!" The boy noticed the group that was eyeing him and either chose to ignore the tied up group of pirates in front of the marine captain or, and this is what Chise thought personally, he didn't even notice them. "Great timing, do you know how to get to the execution platform?"

The Red Mage scoffed, it was in the center of town, how had he managed to miss it?

For several moments, nobody spoke. The perceived tension in the room muting the ability to answer, but obviously the straw hat boy didn't notice. "I guess you can't help me then."

"Follow the smoke."

After the boy was gone, the witch turned towards Smoker. "We're heading there anyways, why not just have had him follow us?"

There was no reply. Eyes the color of the first sprigs of spring grass rolled in their sockets but despite her outwardly calm, if not downright irritated, demeanor; her stomach clenched and the hands bound behind her back shook. It was time to head to the execution platform, and though she was ready to die she could not trick her body into wanting the sweet relief of death. The woman let her teeth worry her bottom lip, just for a moment, before forcing herself to stop and settle back into the calming scent of cigar smoke and the salty breeze of the sea before a storm.

"Damn kids," Smoker turned towards the two younger marines and ordered them to take the captured pirates to the base. Chise swallowed hard, knowing that now she'd be alone with the man she'd spent the last month having relations with. Would he attempt to talk her out of giving up her life on the platform? Would he find a secluded corner and love her body until she no longer wanted to die? Or would he ignore her and pretend she wasn't headed towards death until the moment the blade pierced her heart, or severed her head, depending on how the Marines planned to execute her. The woman was betting on the latter.

"I want makeup. I didn't get a last meal, so instead I want some foundation, eye creme and lip rouge."

Startled by the odd words coming out of her mouth, Smoker did nothing short of gape at the red haired woman. She was headed towards her death, and she wanted makeup? "You don't need it."

"I'm dying today, and I dont want to die looking like I just rolled out of bed. I want to be beautiful."

"You al-Fine. Let's go."

The White Hunter curled his fingers until his knuckles turned as white as his hair, not even releasing tension when he felt the unmistakable touch of the woman who was supposed to be cuffed but obviously had discarded the iron shackles once they were alone. "I'm not going to keep it cheap either, I want the best of the best, Captain."

Several minutes late for her execution, Chise the Red Mage was led to the town square, back in her iron manacles but looking more radiant than she had in any of her five bounty photos taken over the last two years. Though she was under the assumption she'd be heading to the chopping block, Smoker instead led her off to the side, through several alleys before finally winding up at The Gold Roger.

Cocking her head to the side, the witch stumbled behind the captain into the dimly lit, dumpy looking bar.

Cobwebs and broken chair legs seemed to decorate every corner of the ramshackle place, and the tiny man who barely reached the top of the counter seemed to be the owner. The prisoner took a seat next to her jailer, only vaguely listening as the barman complained about the marine trying to ruin his business.

"I've only come here as a customer. It's the pirate's fault that they're all cowards nowadays."

The marine reminsced about the day the King of the Pirates was executed, him a small child no older than twelve, fighting to get through the crowds that were attending the execution and eventually hearing the last words Gold Roger spoke. The same words that spurred on the beginning of the Great Age of Pirates were the words that cemented Smoker's destiny as Marine.

"Captain Smoker, sir! Sorry for the interruption!" An unnamed officer stumbled through the doorway, one single sheet of paper falling off a small stack of bounty posters he held. "You're late for the Witching Hour."

Chise chuckled at the nickname that had become of her death; it certainly has a ring to it, she thought idly to herself.

The man with snow-colored hair stood tall for a mere moment before glancing down at the fallen bounty; he radianted anger as he clenched the paper in his fist.

"That damn strawhat! It was Monkey D. Luffy!"

"He doesn't look like a man who could out-bounty me. He looks much too kind to deserve a thirty thousand berry bounty.. I bet he got it protecting a village from a rogue marine," she said it offhandedly but watched in delight as both marines stood at attention, stoic and disapproving of her words. Perhaps they recognized the truth in her words.

The elder of the two grabbed her hands, barely noticing the shackles had magically made their way back to her wrists, and tugged harshly.

"Hey hey! Don't damage the merchandise, Smoky. I'm a valuable asset who can disappear in a split second.. and then whose head would you chop off?" Distant eyes suddenly became alert and, and perhaps Chise was being hopeful, disheartened at the womans words.

"Let's go to the platform. We'll kill two birds with one stone," the red witch continued to joke, attempting to make light of the situation she was in but to no avail. Smoker wasn't in the mood to be joked with, he'd let the most wanted pirate in the East Blue walk right passed him and he hadn't even realized it.

He exited the dilapidated bar, jerking Chise with him as he jogged directly into the town center.

The scene they were met with was comical, the most wanted man in the East Blue hugging the platform for dear life as he struggled to ascend to the top when there was a handy dandy ladder just around the opposite side.

"Oi, boy. Get down from there."

Monkey D. Luffy slid slighty along the slick metal, scrambling to stop himself from getting further away from his overall goal. "I'm busy."

The scent of Smoker's cigar wafted across Chise's senses, striking her useless for a mere moment before she managed to catch herself. Truly, the marine was dangerous in more ways than one.

"Are you the man with the biggest bounty in the East Blue?"

"The kid is a carbon copy of the smiling goon in the bounty photo, do you think he has an identical twin running around somewhere?" The mage wished she'd taken the time to learn the Copy incantation as it was currently an ideal time to use it; she could transform herself into the Strawhat, shocking everyone around as she laid a large, loud kiss on Smoker's lips. She should have taken the time and now this would only be added to her list of life's greatest regrets.

"I'm Luffy. Can I help you with something?" Luffy began to slide further down the steel structure, gasping all the while as he tightened his grip.

"I'm Captain Smoker of the Navy, I'm in charge of Loguetown. You're under arrest."

Has that ever worked? Chise wondered idly. Just go up to a wanted man, tell them they're under arrest and they'll give up peacefully. It worked on her, but she'd already given herself up to the navy so perhaps that couldn't be counted as a win for the marines.

"I'm Chise, in case anyone was curious," the woman inputted, smiling as the young pirate and the older marine turned to face her. Smoker didn't reply, but the pirate's eyes lingered on the cuffed wrists of the mage before he replied.

"No way, I'm just about to go to the Grand Line and become King of the Pirates! I refuse to get arrested in a place like this."

The older man's face seemed to scrunch up in anger, making his already large forhead and eyes that were just a bit too close together, turn his face more into that of a caveman instead of the handsome marine captain that Chise knew him to be whenever he actually managed to relax his facial muscles. Luffy really managed to bring some unattractive qualities to the man.

"If you want to go to the Grand Line, you have to defeat me first."

The boy seemed to believe he could defeat the captain, and wound his fist up in order to punch only for the movement to through him off balance. He nearly fell off the platform, managing just barely to hang on for dear life with his legs while the top half of his body hung off backwards and stretched unrealistically.

The boy was like Chise and Smoker, a Devil Fruit eater, yet not nearly as graceful as the mage or navy-man as somehow his legs had managed to get tangled up together which is all that kept him from falling off face first several moments ago. Chise tried to make herself seem innocent, but the look in Smoker's eyes told her she was failing miserably and she'd already been found out.

Once Luffy managed to come loose from the platform, he attempted to punch Smoker yet had no success in his endeavor, and within a few moments the strongest marine in the East Blue had the pirate on the ground, struggling to push himself back onto his feet. Monkey D Luffy would lose this battle, but Chise could tell that he was a fighter and would keep attempting to defeat Smoker until his death if that's what it took to get to the Grand Line. The older woman glanced around, fighting the smarter half of her mind that told her to stay out of it. She was going to die, why should she care who else follows her to their grave?

"I won't quit! Gum-Guuum-"

Rolling her eyes, the witch let her magic reach out and twist it's way around the rubber leg that was set to shoot out in a pathetic attempt to kick the White Hunter. As the attack shot out, it bowled past its target, Luffy's leg kept stretching and continued to veer off course, wrapping repeatedly around a large stone fountain. For a moment, time froze as Smoker watched wide-eyed as the young boy was catapulted away from the town square. He was safe, for the moment.

"So.. can I be escorted up onto the execution platform now or...?"

"Your execution has been rescheduled for later this afternoon, witch," Grey, with his body still smelling slightly of burnt hair, grimaced at the thought of having to deal with the ridiculous woman for longer than necessary. He'd truly been looking forward to watching her head roll across the platform, possibly to fall off the edge. Now he'd have to wait hours longer for that perfect moment.

Chise turned to argue against a rescheduling of her own death but Smoker had already left, determination to catch the straw hat reverberating with every step he took.


End file.
